I imagine it this way:
Technical songwriting is not necessarily vital. However, when used right, it can make songs significantly more interesting. Creativity is what makes good songs, that and flavor.
If this were painting, creativity and flavor are the color and intensity of the paints.
However, Technical Skill is the canvas. The more skill you, and the musicians around you, have the more you can conceivably do in order to make a broader more powerful picture. Doesn't mean your picture will be pretty, though.
Sometimes technical bands can be the most boring thing if they just repeat mundane formulas in order to keep "focus", and/or accessibility(From what I've heard, Dreamtheater, imo. No offense.). On the other side of the coin, some of the less technically skilled bands are able to experiment and find solutions of creating sound(I honestly think the Beatles are a prime example of this. Not that they weren't skilled but not really virtuosos yet revolutionary when it came to studio production.).
Then again the absolute best bands for me are the ones that have amazing technical skill but also utilize it to paint vast colorful landscapes(my favorite band, Magma).
As for it hurting songwriting... I don't really like the modern concept of songwriting. Just feels like a thinly veiled term for high accessibility which feels often like a thinly veiled term for mass appeal. Which, as somebody who sees music as an art form not a commodity, means absolutely nothing to me.
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